Qwiic Alphanumeric display - Freezing/Locking up

Components & Accessories Displays
1

I’m using 3 alphanumeric displays daisy chained together using the QUIIC connector. I’ve connected the base display to my I2C bus. When I send commands to any other device on the I2C bus everything works fine but when I send to the displays they will regularly lock up/freeze and the program comes to a halt. Any recommendations to either correct the issue or do some kind of timeout function to recover if it locks up? None of the other devices on my I2C bus have this freezing issue.

Essentially this is what I am trying to do (inside a loop).

#include <Wire.h>
#include <SparkFun_Alphanumeric_Display.h>

HT16K33 date_display;

date[12] = " JAN   1 2020" 

date_display.print(date);
2

Sorry for the typos … summarizing but should read.

#include <Wire.h>
#include <SparkFun_Alphanumeric_Display.h>

HT16K33 date_display;

char date[12] = " JAN   1 2020";

date_display.print(date);

//update date char array
//update display - date_display.print(date)
//repeat several times throughout program
3

I think it might be a power issue due to the fact that multiple I2C devices are using the QUIIC for power from the I2C bus rather than as separate power source. In addition, I think the daisy chained I2C devices are causing power issues. Is there a documented way to get a separate (non I2C bus) power source?